#1595 – Nerdy Kings

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword hits theaters today and the reviews have been lukewarm. The general consensus is that the movie isn’t terrible, but just unnecessary. I knew that the movie was in trouble when the commercials used tweets from real-life people. Apparently no critics had anything nice to say, so the marketing team turned to Twitter.

In honor of King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, a movie which I have no intentions of seeing, here are some of my favorite nerdy kings.

Aragorn

I read the Lord of the Rings books, but I’m much more familiar with the movies. I slogged through the books over a year, but will regularly watch any movie from the trilogy. I always go back and forth in my head between who is cooler: Aragorn or Legolas. They’re both pretty sweet and kill goblins, orcs and Uruk-hai in creative ways. I usually come back to Aragorn, though, because his story is far more interesting. In a world filled with people trying to rule, Aragorn stays in the shadows. He is the rightful king of all men, yet he’s wary of the throne and the corruption of power. Thankfully he takes his rightful place as Gondor’s king and helps save Middle-Earth in the process.

Namor

If Aragorn is a humble king, then Namor is the exact opposite. Namor’s ego is large enough to fill the ocean, of which he is king. As king of Atlantis, Namor doesn’t have time to suffer fools or humans. In every comic I’ve read, Namor always has something to say about how awesome he is. Even when fighting a massive villain or the Avengers, Namor is always talking about Namor. I would have a hard time following a king like Namor; I don’t know if he could care about my needs while being so focused on his own.

Mufasa

I saw The Lion King when it came out. I was 12 at that point and it really signified the last time I would enjoy a Disney movie for a long time. Pocahontas came out the following year and it being an inferior movie combined with me getting older, led me to disengage from Disney for a while. I’ve since come back, long before having a daughter, but The Lion King is still one of my favorite Disney movies. James Earl Jones brings such gravitas to Mufasa, the kind of gravity befitting a king. Not only is Mufasa strong, but he’s also a kind and wise ruler; he deserved a better son than Jonathan Taylor Thomas.

These are some great nerdy kings, but there’s really only one king that matters: the King of Kings. Aragorn, Namor and Mufasa all demanded the respect and loyalty of their followers. God demands the same of us, but also couples that expectation with an unconditional love that he showed us on the cross.